20. They Wanted IN

It’s not exactly “creepy” in the traditional sense, but when I was 8 years old, I lived through an attempted break in. My dad was a correctional officer at the local prison so we always had an air of caution growing up. We suffered through the usually things, family members of inmates stalking us, being bullied by school kids because my dad wasn’t a “real” cop, things like that.

But when I was 8 years old, something even terrifying happened. We had a sleep over with two friends, my sister and her friend were in the bedroom, while my brother, his friend and I were in the living room sleeping on the couch. My sister and her friend came out of the bedroom really scared, they woke us up and told us to go into my dad’s room. We were confused and asking questions of course, but being the oldest one, Casey (my sister) was very demanding.

Before we had the chance to get into the bedroom, the banging on the windows started and the handle on the front door was turning. We lived in a small community where everyone knew everyone but we still locked our door because of my dad’s profession. We hurried into my dad’s room, Casey practically carrying me because I was crying from fear. We told my dad what was happening, and he jumped up, grabbed his gun and a curtain rod and ran outside in just his underwear and boots.

They were gone by then, but we called the cops and that’s when I found out what caused Casey to come out to get us. It was winter, but her and her friend had the window cracked a bit to let the cool night air in. They were woken up by two older men asking them to come outside, that they had something for them. It was 3 in the morning and of course Casey and her friend were freaked out. They shut the window and came out to get us. The men didn’t get what they wanted, so they started to pound on the windows and door trying to get in. Our dog was going crazy at the noise which caused me to cry even harder.

When the police arrived, they found two sets of foot prints leading into the backyard where our other dog stayed. She must have bitten one of them because there was a piece of fabric in her mouth and she had blood on her teeth. I finally calmed down, but I will never forget that incident. It may not be ghosts, or shadows on the wall, but in a small community of only 5000, it was the creepiest thing that ever happened to me.